


I'll Wait

by hughjackman



Category: MAJOR INFINITY WAR SPOILER, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), infinity war - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Nightmares, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 17:21:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14794718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hughjackman/pseuds/hughjackman
Summary: Alone on Titan with nothing but the phone Steve gave him, Tony makes a decision he should have made a long time ago.





	I'll Wait

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WAR.
> 
> This is written as if Tony had the phone the whole time. (And yeah, for the sake of this fic let's pretend it has a brilliant signal wherever it goes lmao).
> 
> Enjoy!

The ashes were black on the floor, slipping through his fingers when he scooped them up. It was hard to remember that it was Peter. _His_ Peter. An amazing kid who’d had such a bright future ahead of him… and he’d failed at making that happen. It’d been the only thing he’d wanted, and he couldn’t even get that.

He wasn’t quite sure what to do now. He was alone on Titan, the only sign of life being the light breeze flowing through his unruly hair, and the slight howl it made. He wondered for a moment if it was the spirits - of the people Thanos had killed - crying out, but quickly shook his head, not wanting to think like that. It wasn’t nice.

He hadn’t moved since it happened. Probably because he didn’t want to leave Peter, possibly because he physically _couldn’t_. He felt so weak; hand shaking, chest rising and falling with each ragged breath, teeth chattering, legs numb, eyes raw. But he knew he had to do _something_. He couldn’t stay here. He’d die.

But maybe that was what he wanted. To die. It wasn’t like he had much to live for anymore.

A sigh left his lips, and he hung his head, clenching his fists and trying to control the tears which were suddenly pouring from his eyes. Why was it so _hard?_ You’d have thought he’d be used to losing the people who meant the most to him, but each time it got that much more difficult. Because this was _Peter_.

He felt worthless. He was up here, crouching next to piles of ash, when he should be on Earth, being the hero. But he felt that he couldn’t… like he didn’t _deserve_ it anymore. Heroes were meant to save people, right? They weren’t meant to bring people further into battle and consequently get them killed…

The thoughts were probably going to remain in his head forever, jolting him awake from his sleep and never leaving him alone. He knew it. He wasn’t allowed peace, was he? Not Tony Stark.

He needed to hear someone’s voice. He’d been sat here for God knows how long now, next to people who weren’t people anymore, and he just needed to know that he wasn’t the only one left in the world. That there were people thinking about him, and maybe even wondering where he was, doing what he should be doing and saving everyone who was left.

Unlikely.

Somehow, his hands made it to the pocket of his jacket, fumbling around inside until he found what he was looking for. Trembling fingers pulled out something cold, and he looked down, heart racing in anticipation of what he was about to do.

Barely hesitating once, he opened the phone and called the one number on it. With any luck, he’d be okay. With any luck, Steve wouldn’t have died and he’d have someone to talk to. Someone to _help_ him. The ringing echoed around the planet, the sound almost startling him. All he’d been hearing for the past few hours was his sobbing and the wind, howling and mocking him.

_“Tony?”_

Everything around him seemed to pause. The wind was suddenly silent, like it was waiting to hear what he was going to say. He could almost _hear_ the pumping of his heart.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

_“Tony? That you?”_

“Uh- yeah. Yeah, it’s me.”

Okay. This was weird. Tony hadn’t heard Steve’s voice in over _two years_ , and now suddenly they were talking over the phone. He couldn’t help but feel slightly overwhelmed by the whole thing; Steve, his best friend, was _talking_ to him. After _all_ that had happened. And there didn’t seem to be an ounce of anger or even slight irritation at having to speak to him in his voice.

There was a pause on the other end, and Tony wondered for a brief moment if he’d gone. If Steve had hung up after hearing his voice. But that moment was short-lived.

_“Are you okay? Where are you?”_

Was it so wrong of him to think that Steve actually cared?

“I’m on… on- in space. A planet. Y’know, um, purple guy’s planet? Yeah.”

_“You’re on Thanos’s planet? Titan?”_

“Yeah, th- tha’s it.”

_“Is there anyone with you?”_

“Mhm… lotsa people here. Not _here_ here, though. Just- y’know. Gone.”

Unbeknownst to him, Steve was growing increasingly worried each time a word left Tony’s mouth. He knew what he meant, people not being ‘ _here_ here’ - they must have turned to ash like everyone else - but the man didn’t sound _right_. He sounded on the verge of a panic attack, which was exactly what he _didn’t_ need when he was several _planets_ away from him.

_“Okay, okay. Is, uh- is the suit working?”_

“Dunno. Prob’ly not. No signal up here.”

_“Okay, but… can you fly outta there? Can you get home, Tony?”_

“Can’t remember the way. FRIDAY does but she’s offline.”

Tony’s eyes were squeezed shut, trying to focus on Steve’s voice and calm himself. It seemed to be working - his heart beat was slowing down a little - but it still wasn’t enough.

Steve wasn’t quite sure what to do. Sighing, he stood from his seat in the Wakandan palace and walked through a door to what he hoped would be a more private place, brushing past Nat as he went and giving her a reassuring smile. Sure enough, the room he walked into looked to be a living room, much like the one he remembered back at the Compound, and there was nobody there but him. He could hear Tony on the other end, seemingly breathing in and out, in and out, and quickly made his way over to a sofa in a corner of the room.

_“Hey, you still there?”_

“Nowhere else to go.”

_“Alright, Tony, listen. We’re gonna have to get you out of there. You won’t last long on that planet by yourself.”_

“Not alone. Peter.”

 _“Peter? Who’s- Tony, you have nobody up there, okay? Nobody_ whole _, anyway. We need you down here._ I _need you down here.”_

“Can’t leave Peter, Steve.”

Steve sighed, rubbing a tired hand down his face. _“Peter will be fine, Tony, I promise. We can go back up there and get him later, okay? But right now-”_

“Not leaving him.”

_“Tony.”_

“No.”

_“Tony-”_

“ _No_ , Steve!”

Okay, breathe. _Breathe_. Don’t panic. Steve’s just trying to help. He doesn’t know who Peter is- doesn’t know how _important_ he is. Breathe. It’s not his fault. Don’t panic. _Breathe_.

 _“Alright, alright!_ Calm _, Tony. Calm your breathing. Listen to my voice. Just listen. Uh- do you want to talk about something different? How about, um… hey, do you remember the time all of us threw a surprise birthday party for Rhodey? Remember he walked in the room, and you exploded a party popper in his face and his eye swelled up?”_ He laughed quietly at that, the memories hurtling back to him. It seemed to work on Tony, too - his breathing was a lot more even now, and while he was still deeply taking breaths in through his nose and out through his mouth, the distraction from everything that was going on around the both of them seemed to be working.

_“And do you remember sitting down and watching all three Hobbit movies with the others? We were meant to finish and then head off to bed, but every single one of us fell asleep halfway through the Battle of the Five Armies and Fury had to wake us all up when he walked in on us the next morning… remember that?”_

Tony did remember. “Yeah,” he said, voice quiet. “Do- do you remember it being so icy on Christmas Day that as soon as we walked outside we fell over?”

Steve laughed. _“And had to go to Bruce for stitches? How could I forget?”_

A small smile flit across Tony’s face, relaxing the worried lines on his forehead and calming his shaking hands. A tear leaked from his eye, trailing down his cheek, and he took a deep breath. “I missed you,” he said.

_“I missed you too, Tony.”_

“I’m sorry for- for everything.”

_“So am I.”_

“Still friends?”

A chuckle could be heard on the other end of the phone, and the man felt himself smile even wider. _“Of course, Tony. Always.”_

“Have you- how _is_ everyone?”

 _“Everyone’s, um…"_ It was quiet for a while, the only sound coming from Steve’s end of the line being a slight shuffling noise.

Tony frowned. “Steve?”

 _“Sorry, yeah. Everyone’s as okay as they can be, I guess. Everyone that’s, uh- everyone that’s_ left _, that is.”_

Tony felt reality hit him like a ton of bricks. Again. “Who’s gone?” he asked, daring to even say it.

Steve said nothing for a while, probably trying to compose himself, and Tony didn’t blame him. “It’s okay, Steve. You don’t have to-”

_“No, it’s alright. There’s, uh… T’Challa’s gone. And Vision, Wanda, Sam, Buck- Bucky…”_

At the mention of the Winter Soldier, Tony felt his fist clench just slightly. However, he completely disregarded that when he realized that he’d gone too, and he’d been Steve’s _friend_. “I’m sorry, Steve.”

_“Yeah.”_

“Is… Rhodey?”

 _“Oh, uh- Rhodey…”_ There was a brief pause. _“No, Tony. I’m sorry.”_

Tony nodded, though Steve couldn’t see, and blinked back his tears. He should’ve known, really. “What are we going to do?” he whispered, more to himself, though Steve heard.

_“I don’t know, Tony. For once, I really don’t know.”_

“Where are you right now?”

_“Wakanda.”_

“And- you’re safe there, right?”

_“For the mean time. Look… I really need you here. I just… everyone’s sitting around. Nobody knows where to go from here. We need your help.”_

“Me being there isn’t gonna change much.”

 _“It’ll change_ enough _. We still have Nat, and Thor and Bruce… T’Challa’s sister is here, and there’s a whole lotta Wakandans still fighting and willing to help. We’re not alone in this, Tony, we’re really not. We’ll get through it together, just as we always have.”_

Silence reigned over both sides for a moment until Tony decided to speak again. “I don’t want to leave Peter.”

Steve sighed. _“Who_ is _Peter, Tony?”_

“My kid- he’s… he’s my kid.”

 _“Your…_ kid? _Tony, what-”_

“Spider man, Steve. It’s Spider man. Peter Parker.”

Tony couldn’t see Steve’s face, but he was envisioning one like that of his reaction to the party popper incident with Rhodey. _“The kid from… seriously? So, he’s not really…”_

“No, he’s not. But he is.”

_“Right. Okay. I understand.”_

“So you understand why I can’t leave him?”

He did. _“I do.”_ But that still didn’t mean Tony needed to stay up there. It sounded horrible to say, but the kid wasn’t going to know any different. _“I’m keeping to what I said earlier; we need you_ here _, but I promise you we can go and get Peter after we’ve finished. I promise. We’ll go together. We won’t leave him there. We can come back.”_

“… you promise?”

_“Of course I do, Tony.”_

Then okay. “Okay.”

Steve shut his eyes in relief. _“Good. That’s- that’s really good. What do you need help with? Will you be able to get FRIDAY back online?”_

Tony sighed, glancing at the ashes once more before slowly rising to his feet. He turned to where he’d left the suit earlier, finding it stood in the exact same place, and began to walk towards it. “I can try. You’ll stay while I’m doing it?”

_“I’m not going anywhere.”_

He nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, kneeling in front of the suit. “This may take a while, Steve.”

Steve smiled, sitting back. He was coming home; it didn’t matter how long he took.

_“I’ve waited two years for you, Tony. I don’t think a few more hours will make any difference.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm absolutely in love with the_accidental_horcrux 's fic 'Dear Mr. Stark (or whoever reads his mail)' and saw that she had an amazing idea to create an email for Tony so people can message him! I thought it was an awesome idea and therefore created one for Steve!
> 
> His email address is: captainamerica@email.com
> 
> Ask questions or just talk... it'd be awesome!!
> 
> Again, thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed <3


End file.
